Numerous headlines have declared the decline, or death, of the high street and, indeed, many facts would seem to support this point of view. Using data supplied by the Local Data Company, Deloitte analysed what happened to nearly 5,900 shops impacted by 27 of the most high profile retail administrations, revealing some interesting results across the country.

We ask: what has happened to the space that was vacated? Who has reoccupied the shops that were left behind? How long has it taken for landlords to find new tenants and what, if any, regional patterns can be detected? In short, where did all the shops go?

Key findings

Reoccupation rates post-administration are significantly higher for the high street (70%) than they are for shopping centres (55%) or retail parks (45%).

The dominance of the high street over other retail sectors remains remarkably consistent across the traditional North/South divide.

Discount and surplus stores account for nearly one in five of all re-lettings of shops vacated as a result of the administrations covered by our survey.

The major grocers and convenience food operators have used the space released to fuel their accelerated return to the high street.

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